Free Republic

Madison — The Assembly's top lawmaker wants to roll back some of the information available to the public on a free online database of state court records. His sentiments echo those of lawmakers in both parties who are working on several bills to scale back the data available on the Wisconsin Consolidated Courts Automation Programs, a website with nearly 8 million visitors a year. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) acknowledged that CCAP is popular with everyone from landlords and journalists to savvy singles checking out a dating prospect for any unseemly past. Vos said he doesn't want to spoil that,...

The Obama administration is secretly negotiating a treaty that could have significant effects on domestic law. Officially, it's a "free trade" treaty among Pacific rim countries, but a section of the draft agreement leaked in 2011 suggested that it will require signers, including the United States, to make significant changes to copyright law and enforcement measures. **SNIP** Now, as Maira Sutton at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes, the New York Times editorial board has endorsed the TPP. While the editorial acknowledges that some are "worried about provisions on intellectual property that could restrict the availability of generic medicines and...

(CNSNews.com) – National Park Service (NPS) rangers removed the handles from some 40 public water pumps and closed restrooms in the 184.5 mile- C&O Canal National Historical Park, but they haven’t been able to keep hikers and bikers off the popular trail known as a “cyclist’s dream.” “It’s full every day,” said Gail Hall, who runs Mountain Side Bikes at the trailhead in Cumberland, Md. “They’re bringing in their own water and utilizing the tree-lined areas [of the park] for restrooms. Some towns like Harper’s Ferry even brought in potties to accommodate them. As long as they can pedal, they...

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) -- Contractors demolishing Sandy Hook Elementary School are being required to sign confidentiality agreements forbidding public discussion of the site, photographs or disclosure of any information about the building where 26 people were fatally shot last December. Selectman Will Rodgers said officials want to protect the Newtown school where the 20 children and six educators were killed, The News-Times reported ( http://bit.ly/1amzP8L ). "It's a very sensitive topic," he said Monday. "We want it to be handled in a respectful way." Project manager Consigli Construction has barricaded the property and intends to screen the perimeter to prevent...

A former Cumberland County middle school principal is accused of sexually assaulting three students who were 11 to 14 years old, including one while the child's parent was waiting in the office, according to the Sheriff's Office. David Ellis Edwards, who was principal of Douglas Byrd Middle School for three years until abruptly resigning in August, turned himself in to sheriff's deputies Friday morning. Edwards, 49, of the 7200 block of Tobago Place, is charged with two counts of second-degree forcible sex offense, two counts of sexual acts with a student and five counts of taking indecent liberties with a...

President Obama sent his regrets via video Wednesday evening to the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala and implored House Republicans to work with Democrats to reopen the federal government. "I'm having to cancel some public appearances," Obama explained at the beginning of a video message aired at the black-tie gala. Obama explained that most of the government remains shuttered, putting hundreds of thousands of federal employees out of jobs and leading to the cessation of government services. "That's why I would encourage House Republicans to reopen the federal government," he said -- a line that earned loud applause.

(Newser) – Do you send your kids to private school? Then congratulations: "You are a bad person," Allison Benedikt argues in Slate. "Not bad like murder bad—but bad like ruining-one-of-our-nation’s-most-essential-institutions-in-order-to-get-what’s-best-for-your-kid bad. So pretty bad." Her reasoning is simple: if everyone were invested in public schools—and not just monetarily invested, "but real flesh-and-blood-offspring" invested—they would get better. Involved parents can make a huge difference. Yes, your kid may not get as excellent an education. "Take a deep breath and live with that." "If you can afford private school," even just barely, "chances are that your spawn will be perfectly fine...

A former Atlanta third grade teacher tearfully testified Monday that she gave in to pressure from an administrator to cheat on standardized tests. Stacey Smith, who taught at Usher-Collier Heights Elementary School, said testing coordinator Donald Bullock dropped off test booklets at the end of a day when students had been taking the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test in 2009.

WASHINGTON — Almost a third of this year’s high school graduates who took the ACT tests are not prepared for college-level writing, biology, algebra or social science classes, according to data the testing company released Wednesday. The company’s annual report also found a gap between students’ interests now and projected job opportunities when they graduate, adding to the dire outlook for the class of 2013. “The readiness of students leaves a lot to be desired,” said Jon Erickson, president of the Iowa-based company’s education division. The ACT reported that 31 percent of all high school graduates tested were not ready...

Ex-congressman Jackson is eligible to receive $8,700 dollars per month in disability pay due to his bipolar condition and could receive a partial federal pension of $45,000 per year once he reaches 65. While on the city council, Sandi Jackson had automatic pension contributions of more than $50,000 withdrawn from her pay, even though she chose not to be a member of the city pension fund.

Although disgraced Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. suddenly developed a “mood disorder” as the feds were about to indict him, he qualifies for generous government disability payments because it’s considered a debilitating mental illness. Of interesting note is that Jackson Jr., sentenced this week to 2 ½ years in prison for corruption, never showed any symptoms of a “mood disorder” during his 17 years as a federal lawmaker. The mental illness surfaced abruptly last summer as the congressman, a member of Judicial Watch’s Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians list, was about to get criminally charged. The feds had been breathing...

Detroit’s bankruptcy and the problems facing its pension funds offer two important lessons to other communities. One is that state and local governments need to do a much better job managing retirement funds. The other is that they should not pre-emptively reduce hard-earned benefits at the first sign of trouble. Several state and local pension systems around the country are under serious stress. Not surprisingly the hardest hit retirement funds are in places devastated by global economic forces like Detroit, as well as inland cities in California like Stockton, which was battered by the real estate collapse and has also...

Looks like Phys-Ed major is the way to go!  h/t Kirby

Many states, especially California and Illinois, have had severe pension underfunding problems for many years. However, new actuarial pension rules will finally force states to admit the problem. Thus, it should not be surprising that talk of "technical bankruptcy" and “service insolvency” is growing. Here are some pertinent ideas from California on the Brink: Pension Crisis About to Get Worse   Moody’s new credit standards for public pensions would nearly double the unfunded liabilities for state and local pension plans in California to $328.6 billion from $128.3 billion. California has the second lowest credit rating at Standard & Poor’s of all 50 states;...

Gaza needs to bring back public hangings, senior court official Khaled el-Batash argued this week in an interview with the local media outlet Filistine. Batash said courts should have their own police, who would implement court rulings by publicly executing condemned criminals. Public executions would serve to deter Gaza residents from serious crime, he argued. Hamas has instituted the death penalty for several crimes, among them murder, rape, drug dealing, and “collaborating” with Israel, a charge applied to those who provide information on terrorist activity that is used to assassinate terrorists or otherwise thwart attacks.

Verizon, the phone company whose disclosure of customer data to the federal government is at the center of the furor over cooperation by technology companies with top-secret national security programs, has offered a precise, clear, but little-noticed public explanation of why it did what it did. The Verizon explanation is not in the vague and cryptic memo the company issued last week after the Guardian exposed its program. It came, instead, in the company’s annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, included in Verizon’s annual report to shareholders.

More Minnesota public employees are staying on the job longer -- a result of the struggling economy and a change in the rules for public workers who have long enjoyed incentives to leave the workforce in their late 50s. Last year, about 60 percent of new retirees from Minnesota's public workforce -- not including public safety workers -- waited until they were 62 or older to retire. Just seven years ago, that figure was 40 percent, according to data from Minnesota's three statewide public pension plans. This trend is expected to accelerate sharply. Within the next decade, there won't be...

Broke Detroit's Pension Fund "Trustees" Use Public Funds To Fund Hawaii Trip Tyler Durden 05/25/2013 12:46 -0400 "When you have city employees, police, and firefighters have taken pay cuts, it doesn't look good," is the somewhat understated response from Detroit's emergency manager to the city's latest debacle. Amid the deepening financial crisis the crumbling region faces, four trustees of its public pension funds spent $22,000 of retirement funds to attend a conference at Waikiki Beach, Honolulu. "It's one of these things we trustees must do to stay on top of the field," is how one of the trustees defended the...

The city of Detroit may be facing a deepening financial crisis but that hasn't stopped four trustees of its public pension funds from spending $22,000 of retirement system funds to attend a conference in Hawaii this week. One well-attended session covered how to avoid front-page scandals. According to presenter Lydia Lee, a pension attorney from Oklahoma, the session touched on a topic familiar back in Detroit: The indictment this spring of two former city pension officials for an alleged $200 million bribery and kickback scheme, in a case that will come to trial next March.

President Obama and his administration now find themselves in the middle of not one but two tough situations: the tragic killing of four Americans at a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, and the Internal Revenue Service’s scrutiny of tea-party and other conservative groups. At best, they are cases of bad mishandling and embarrassment; at worst, they rise to the level of legitimate and consequential scandals. At this point, the significance of each is more in the eye of the beholder. Liberals and Democrats tend to de-emphasize both affairs, while many conservatives and Republicans think that each rises to the level...